Class polarisation and neo-liberalism in the Irish Republic
strong pattern of agglomeration, whereby a cluster of rival US computer companies moved to Ireland to take advantage of its particular cost advantages of low tax rates, low wages and free access to EU markets.4 The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) has claimed that twenty-six per cent of all greenfield projects established by US firms in Europe were located in Ireland.5 These are mainly in computers and, to a lesser extent, in pharmaceuticals. The Celtic Tiger differed from the Asian economies with which it has often been compared in at least one important respect